


Starting All Over Again

by Butterfly



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-26
Updated: 2013-01-26
Packaged: 2017-11-26 23:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/655524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterfly/pseuds/Butterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kris is nearly ready to date a guy. He's pretty sure, anyway. As long as his nerves don't get the better of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting All Over Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sundaydriver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sundaydriver/gifts).



> Written for the 2012 [Kradam holidays](http://kradam-holidays.livejournal.com) on livejournal.

_Finnick_ , Kris typed in, a little hesitantly. He wasn't afraid that Luke would judge him, not after what they'd already talked about, but it was still something he'd never admitted to anyone else before now. Though, really, it wasn't the fact of Finnick Odair being his favorite character from The Hunger Games that would out him to anyone. It was the reason.  
  
But that was exactly why he'd signed up for an internet dating service, so that he could admit all the things about himself that he hadn't been ready to say when he'd been married and semi-famous. _He's probably my favorite. The actor's pretty hot too. You?_  
  
 _For me, it's def Cinna_ , came the answer from Luke. _Ha, we need to get favs that don't die on us._   
  
Kris smiled fondly at his phone. _Are you going to the movie on opening day?_  
  
 _ABSOLUTELY. It's the last one, how can I not? Aren't you?_  
  
 _Probably not the first day. You'll have to tell me if they finished it right._  
  
While he waited for a response, Kris checked on his dinner. For a while after his divorce, he'd retreated to fast food and microwaved dinners, not feeling up to cooking a whole meal for just one person, but he was finding a comfort in cooking these days.   
  
The sauce was simmering nicely and the chicken still needed a good ten minutes, so Kris went back to his phone.   
  
_We should see it together_ , Luke had sent.  
  
It was the first time either of them had suggested actually meeting up. Kris knew that Luke lived in the Los Angeles area, too, and he'd even wondered at times, when he'd gone out jogging or around town, if he was seeing Luke and not even realizing it. Kris stared down at his phone. They'd only been talking for three months. If he did meet up with Luke, it would be his first official date with another man. He wasn't sure he was ready for that.   
  
On the other hand, it wasn't like he was committing to anything with the guy. It was just about going to a movie that they both wanted to see anyway.  
  
At times like this, he wished that he could still pick up the phone and call Adam Lambert. He'd wanted to, when he'd first moved to L.A., but then the weeks had slipped away and it just hadn't ever seemed like a good time to re-start a friendship that had died from slow starvation. Still, he figured Adam would have liked Luke, though Kris tended to think that about most of the guys that he'd met through the dating service. He'd met very few assholes, which he was given to understand wasn't normal.   
  
And yet, every other time that Kris had gotten an invitation to meet up with someone in person, he'd turned it down. He hadn't been ready. He still wasn't sure if he was ready.  
  
But he had to give someone a chance eventually, and Luke was probably the nicest of any of the guys he'd chatted with. Kris nodded a little to himself and responded.  
  
 _We should._  
  


* * *

  
  
Tall. Brown hair. Blue eyes. Wearing a dark green shirt with a sprig of lilac on it.  
  
Kris repeated the list in his head, scanning the lobby of the hotel. There were a lot of people around—some kind of convention, Luke had said—so that was all good, according to the service's suggestions. Public place, plenty of other people, chance to scope each other out ahead of time. He straightened the tiny white rose pinned to his vest. It reminded him, rather uncomfortably, of high-school dances. He should have picked something else as his signal.  
  
He tried to keep his eyes on the main entrance, but he kept glancing up at the clock hanging above the door, watching the minutes tick away. Luke was five minutes late.  
  
Another group of people came in through the doors and Kris saw one of them peel off from the rest, slipping off his coat and revealing a shirt that qualified as a darker shade of green. There was something familiar about him, even all wrapped up in a scarf and hat.   
  
Familiar enough that Kris had to wonder if maybe God was playing a joke on him.  
  
The man took a squashed little lilac out of the pocket of his pants and pinned it to the collar of his shirt. The way he moved his hands brought back dozens of memories to Kris and now he knew exactly who he was supposed to meet tonight.  
  
Just as Adam—Adam _Lambert_ , what was Adam doing using a dating service?—was about to look up, Kris ducked behind a pillar and tried to breathe normally. He needed to decide what he wanted to do pretty quickly.  
  
Okay.  
  
So, he'd genuinely missed Adam as a friend. If nothing else, maybe this could re-start their friendship. If both of them wanted to, maybe they could even be something more. He'd had some—well, a lot—of guilty thoughts about Adam back during the _American Idol_ days, nothing he'd ever planned on doing anything about. Maybe he'd be able to dust off some of those old fantasies.  
  
On the other hand, he could walk out there and maybe Adam would be pissed off that he'd wasted all that getting-to-know-you stuff on someone that he'd already known once, on someone that he hadn't felt he needed to keep in his life.   
  
On the third—possibly alien—hand, Adam wasn't an asshole, so he wouldn't be rude about it even if finding out the truth meant he wasn't interested anymore. 'Luke' just wouldn't chat with Kris through the service anymore and that would be the end of it. It would suck but Kris would deal.  
  
Adam had the right to know the truth, too, after all.  
  
Kris pulled his phone out of his pocket and called his voicemail, strolling out from behind the pillar, doing his best to showcase the rose while not looking in Adam's direction. He listened to a saved message from his mom and then felt a tap on his shoulder. He tried not to tense up and he put his phone back in his pocket, turning toward Adam with a welcoming smile.  
  
"It _is_ you," Adam said. He'd pulled down the scarf, his eyes as bright and lively as they'd ever been. "I wondered if I was seeing things. Kris—when did you start dating guys?"  
  
Kris huffed out a laugh. "Adam. Wow. Um. You look really good. Um, actually, I haven't been... dating guys, I mean. This was going to be my first try at it." He wasn't sure if he'd pulled off 'startled' successfully but Adam seemed to be too genuinely surprised to notice either way.  
  
"I never would have guessed that Chris-with-a-ch was you," Adam said. "Surprisingly effective cover name."  
  
"Thanks," Kris said. Adam's hand was still on his shoulder, warm and something that Kris hadn't realized he'd missed so much.  
  
"I remember hearing about the divorce," Adam said. "Was it because...?"  
  
"Not really," Kris said. "There were issues. It's not first date conversation, though. I mean, if this is still a first date." He couldn't help his voice from rising slightly at the end, a hint of uncertainty in it.  
  
"I'd like that," Adam said. He hesitated for a second, tongue swiping over his lower lip and leaving behind a light sheen of moisture. "Oh, hell with it." He tugged Kris into a hug, both arms wrapping around Kris tightly. Even his scent was familiar. Kris relaxed into the hug, tucking his face against Adam's shoulder.   
  
They still fit together, just like in the old days.  
  
Well, that was a start.


End file.
